ansible (include_vars) from include

Question

upgrading from Unable to open shell: Ansible v2.3.1.0

I run into,

[DEPRECATION WARNING]: include is kept for backwards compatibility but usage is discouraged. The module documentation details page may explain more about this rationale.. This feature will be removed in a future release. Deprecation warnings can be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.

from

---
- hosts: ios
  gather_facts: no
  connection: local

  tasks:

  - name: obtain login credentials
    include_vars: secrets.yml

  - name: define provider
    set_fact:
      provider:
        host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
        password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
        #Uncomment next line if enable password is needed
        #auth_pass: "{{ creds['auth_pass'] }}"
        transport: cli

  - include: tasks/ios_command-freeform.yml

what is the proper way of using include_vars to involve a folder content? (Trying to use this instead but yml-s inside "tasks" end up getting ignored by the main play).

Thanks in advance

[root@ymlhost-3 ansible-yml]# cat cisco-play.yml 
---
- name: cisco-yml
  hosts: cisco
  gather_facts: no
  connection: local

  tasks:

  - name: obtain login credentials
    include_vars: secrets.yml

  - name: define provider
    set_fact:
      provider:
        host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
        password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
        auth_pass: "{{ creds['auth_pass'] }}"
        authorize: yes

  - name: Include all .yml
    include_vars:
      dir: 'tasks'
      extensions:
          - json
          - yml
[root@ymlhost-3 ansible-yml]# 

also tried different form

[root@ymlhost-3 ansible-yml]# cat cisco-play.yml 
---
- name: cisco-yml
  hosts: cisco
  gather_facts: no
  connection: local

  tasks:

  - name: obtain login credentials
    include_vars: secrets.yml

  - name: define provider
    set_fact:
      provider:
        host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
        password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
        auth_pass: "{{ creds['auth_pass'] }}"
        authorize: yes

  - name: Include all .yml files except bastion.yml (2.3)
    include_vars:
      dir: 'vars'
      ignore_files: 'bastion.yml'
      extensions: ['yml']
[root@ymlhost-3 ansible-yml]# 

Answer 1

Ansible is telling you the include directive has been deprecated and will not work in future versions, reference:

include - include a play or task list.

DEPRECATED

The include action was too confusing, dealing with both plays and tasks, being both dynamic and static. This module will be removed in version 2.8. As alternatives use include_tasks, import_playbook, import_tasks.

---

Replace:

- include: tasks/ios_command-freeform.yml

With:

- import_tasks: tasks/ios_command-freeform.yml

Or:

- include_tasks: tasks/ios_command-freeform.yml

Difference is explained here: Differences Between Static and Dynamic. There is likely no difference in your use case, so go with import_tasks.